The present disclosure pertains to ink jet inks, and in particular to aqueous ink jet inks having improved corrosion resistance. The disclosure further relates to the use of ink jet inks having improved corrosion resistance in ink jet print heads comprising nickel or nickel alloys.
Ink jet printing is a non-impact printing process in which droplets of ink are deposited on a substrate, such as paper, to form the desired image. The droplets are ejected from a printhead in response to electrical signals generated by a microprocessor. Ink jet printers offer low cost, high quality printing and have become a popular alternative to other types of printers.
An ink-jet ink is characterized by a number of necessary properties, including color, jetability, decap time (latency), drying time and shelf-life, among others. There is, however, often a tradeoff between these properties because improving one property can result in the deterioration of another property.
Both soluble (dye) and insoluble (pigment) colorants have been used in ink jet inks. Pigments are advantageous because they tend to provide more water-fast and light-fast images than dye inks.
These inks may be used in ink jet recording apparatuses several types of which include ink jet print heads provided with ink flow passages formed of nickel-containing metal such as nickel or nickel alloys. When the inks used therein are aqueous ink jet inks, the nickel may be eluted into the ink with long term contact, and metallic corrosion may result. This corrosion of the metal may cause deterioration in the accuracy of the discharge and landing of the ink droplets.
A need exists for ink jet inks having improved corrosion resistance without impacting ink performance when used in print heads comprising nickel-containing metal such as nickel or nickel alloys.